It's having an integral part of their life removed. The 2 instances we've seen of it, the guy tries to bend after and flops and falls down, like he has no equilibrium anymore - cause a part of him is missing. It's just as bad as taking a limb / eye / whatever, imo.
That's because he expect to shoot out a giant explosion. Imagine trying to fire an oversized hand cannon only to get zero recoil.
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
And you don't see Mako plotting to destroy all bending, now do you? And don't give me the "Well Amon isn't a bender" line because at the *very* least he's a spirit bender but he's likely also an air bender as well.
There's no basis for either of those claims, to be perfectly honest.
The only existing Airbenders are Aang's descendants, and many excellent posts on the subject of whether or not Amon is actually Energybending have already been made.
While Mako could be a non-bender and still not end up wanting to destroy all benders, that has no bearing on whether or not Amon should want to destroy all benders, because different people have different reactions to the same situation.
If everyone reacted the same way in a given situation, then the DCU would have about 50,000 Batmen running around as a result of gun violence.
Do we know that the only airbenders are Aang's descendants? That seems like a pretty hefty assumption. There are plenty of monks on the island temple and nothing to indicate one way or the other yet whether or not they are functioning airbenders. Admittedly we haven't seen any sign of them in the city but that may simple be due to their natural tendency to remove themselves from society.
Aang was the last airbender, and the only extant airbenders whose existence is confirmed are Tenzin and his offspring. I believe Word of God is that the type of bender you are is determined by your parentage, but I don't have a citation on that.
Still, though, logic dictates that if the Fire Nation thought they could eradicate airbending by killing all the Air Nomads, then the ability to airbend (but not the potential to bend itself) is determinate on whether one of your parents is an airbender.
I read the posts debating whether Amon did or did not spiritbend. For now my money and my argument is that he did, if for no other reason than Aang's son saying as much. Plus the only argument out there seems to be that we were missing the fancy flash that we saw when Aang spiritbent and that could easily be explained due to the lack of first person perspective on the spiritbender.
Aang's son is not saying that Amon spiritbended, as he doesn't have complete information regarding the situation. Aang's son is just saying that the only individual who has ever possessed the ability to remove someone's bending is the Avatar.
Remember, Tenzin wasn't there; he's just reacting to what Korra told him.
The fancy flash isn't the only thing we're missing. Amon didn't touch his victim's chest, as Aang did with Ozai. Add everything up, and it smells a little fishy.
Korra has trained as a bender since she was 6. She lost a fight to some random equalist ninja. Jet was a close match for Aang before he trained water bending. Ty Lee took out an elite unit of earth benders. Piando beat a group of supercharged fire benders. Hakkoda took on multiple fire benders during the invasion. Zuko took on 3 fire benders as the blue spirit without any fire bending. Those archers were able to beat aang in a fight and do things like knock a frog out of his hand or shoot a grappling arrow into a tree while falling.
Do you remember the Ty Lee and Toph fight? Happened at the end of Book 2. No? Not really surprising as it lasted all of 5 seconds. Toph nabbed Ty Lee's hands and feet with earthbending from a ways out. End of fight. Just because the benders lack imagination at times on screen does not limit their abilities. Rock armor or metal armor would shut down any offensive action a non-bender could hope to take. You also seem happy to ignore Mai. She was highly trained and skilled. See how many fights she won? How many times did she get completely tooled? The answer to one of those questions is every single time. Guess which one.
In Ty Lee's fight against Toph, Toph not only had the element of surprise but was able to wait for Ty Lee to be in a compromising position. Every other time Ty Lee fights a bender in a straight up fight, Ty Lee is on top. Mai actually wins a lot more fights than not. Even in martial arts, coming out of a fight unbeaten is not a loss, the majority of the time Mai is skilled enough to realize when she's outmatched or outmaneuvered and simply doesn't fight in those situations. Pretty sure that's the essence of strategic fighting.
As for rock and metal armor, we see two benders capable of that in the entire series; Aang and Toph. One is the avatar, the other is the most powerful earth bender in several generations. Even Bumi isn't shown as having the ability to use that technique. Though, the use of bombs in the first and second series suggests that the technique is likely less useful against someone with such. That does bring up another argument, one of techniques. Bending teaching is not consistent throughout the world, even in the second series. Yes, an earth or fire bender can learn to use metal bending or lightning, respectively, but it's not something everyone knows how to use. You don't earn a nickname like "Lightning Bolt Zolt" is everyone has that ability, and Korra wouldn't be amazed at seeing metal benders if they were common (and she supposedly already mastered earth bending, but can't metal bend). Bending still has to be taught and techniques and fighting styles are still important.
Think about all the jobs made obsolete by benders as well. No one would be able to mine as an example. Healing is done by water benders. Welding is gone as well. Construction would take a serious hit as well given how easily an earthbender could throw together walls and a floor even with a wood skeleton base. It would be much cheaper as well since earth is everywhere. Concrete and bricks would probably fall under earthbending as well for extra fun. Entire industries would be dominated and/or created by a simple chance of birth.
There were always more non-benders than benders in the show. The idea that everyone who needs skilled or unskilled labor in an industrialized society will be able to replace them with benders is ludicrous and not presented in the show. Also, if jobs like healing were taken over entirely by water benders, there would be a very different concept of water benders by the public, and water bender healing was shown throughout the series to be a rare thing anyways (Only taught to female benders and then only in the Northern Water tribe in the original series. And so far there's nothing to prove the numbers on that have gotten any better).
So you think the fight would have gone differently if Toph hadn't waited until her hands were on the ground? Let's spin that scenario out. Ty Lee is now in a fight where she can't move her feet, and her opponent can chuck rocks at her from a mile out. Yeah, I totally think it would have ended differently. Element of surprise cuts both ways as well. Chi blockers that we have seen fight have been either against those trained for sports, or caught completely by surprise. The one exception is I think some of Ty Lee's later fights against Katara. Mind you, Katara had less than a years training in waterbending. She had probably 6-7 months of training and practice afterwards by the end of Avatar. In that time she mastered the ability to control peoples bodies against their will. Not exactly points for the non-bending portions here. Also, Bumi might not have done the rock armor, but he never really needed to either. Toph also taught bending for probably a long time after Avatar ended. She might have passed on that nifty technique.
Mai won which fights exactly? I am curious for the list here. Which ones don't end in her getting chased off. Admittedly the only bender type that couldn't completely shut her down was fire, and she was on their side. That becomes kind of the point though. Even knives thrown with deadly accuracy can't hold off most benders. Hell even the archer guys, who were the super elite snipers who trained for ages, only once proved to be very effective against Team Avatar which was exclusively children who were mostly self taught for the majority of the series.
Yes, there are more non-benders than benders, but you only need so many employees to get work done. Do you hire the guy who needs a torch, and propane in order to weld the satomobiles together, or the guy who provides that free of cost as a part of simply working there? Healing with waterbending is supposedly a rare-trait, but look how quick and side effect free it works. It saved a guy who had been struck by super charged lightning and at least partially botched redirecting it. As for being taught only to female waterbenders that is just kind a crap deflection. We have seen a massive proliferation in metal and lighting bending. Healing is going to be way, way more in demand than both of those combined. I think it is safe to say it is taught to whomever has the gift by a lot more people. Especially since Katara, and Aang loathed gender typing for waterbending and became the saviors of the entire damned world.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
Yes let's look at the nefarious things Amon has done.
Stolen bending from criminals. EVILLLLL!
He should do better things for society like Korra did when she tore apart a city block.
Wow, did I really just read this? I mean... did you mean to type what you did or was that entire middle sentence some bizarre smartphone keyboard mishap?
Amon's actions was the equivalent of crippling someone as punishment dealt entirely outside the law. Being born with a talent is not a crime and committing a crime does not justify rounding up your friends and removing the source of that person's talent, whether that be bending or mathematics.
So non benders aren't at a disadvantage to benders but to take away someone's bending is equal to crippling them.
And Korra's actions are no less vigilante as Bei Fang was happy to point out. And hers were far more dangerous.
Oh come on, Korra was literally fresh off the boat
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
Mako said they did numbers jobs. The only reference I have for what that is is Delvin Mallory in Skyrim.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
There are no other airbenders besides Tenzin's family, official word from the creators.
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
I think it's hard to argue white vs. black class oppression when we have lots and lots of examples of poor white living in rural settings (swamp whites), doing menial tasks (literally dozens, from factory work to pushing public trains blacks ride), being exploited by their black employers, and so on. The elite might be mostly white, but whites are not the elite.
Basically, you're buying into Amon's BS argument! Demagoguery works, even in a cartoon.
Was the Earth King in TLA even a bender? I don't recall ever seeing him bend anything.
The Earth King was a figurehead, Long Feng ran that place while he was out catching bears.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
We've seen nobody airbending so far except for Tenzin and his family, and Tenzin himself is specifically cited as the only Airbending master in existence.
If Airbending could be taught to just anyone, shouldn't there be way more airbenders by now? We should see more airbenders at Korra's lessons than just Tenzin's kids, as Tenzin is the only teacher. We should see more airbenders flying around the island.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
Chi attacks, like everything else, have been developed and disseminated over the past hundred years. Lightning used to be the province of incredibly powerful firebending geniuses, now it's used in industrial work. Toph used to be the sole proprietor of metalbending, now it's a relatively widespread skill. Ty Lee used to be the only chi-blocker, now it's the primary technique of the Equalist movement.
Given how everything else has evolved over the ~70 years in between A:TLA and Korra, I find it kind of silly to assert that it's a stretch to assume that Amon developed new chi techniques, but that it's not a stretch that Aang or the Lion Turtle taught someone else Energybending for some unfathomable reason.
That's not to rule out the possibility of Energybending, of course; he certainly could be doing it. I just don't think that we should unequivocally assume that the only possible means of removing bending which he could possibly have is Energybending, given the circumstances.
If it was an evolution of Chi bending then why isn't every one of Amon's ninjas running around ambushing benders on the street and removing their ability?
They could have wiped out tons of benders by now but instead all we get is one man demonstrating something that looks an awful lot like the thing we've already seen remove abilities in front of as large of a crowd as he could gather without getting arrested.
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
Well they have mentioned it outside of the show that the monks on the island aren't airbenders so it is official. You can complain that that is bad storytelling if you want.
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
Well they have mentioned it outside of the show that the monks on the island aren't airbenders so it is official. You can complain that that is bad storytelling if you want.
My quill is already in hand, good sir.
"Dear ignorant twa..." I better take this offline!
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
Well they have mentioned it outside of the show that the monks on the island aren't airbenders so it is official. You can complain that that is bad storytelling if you want.
My quill is already in hand, good sir.
"Dear ignorant twa..." I better take this offline!
Its ok. Meelo will probably become a polygamist and have like 200 kids to restore the population since Aang and Tenzin have failed in their duty.
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
Mako said they did numbers jobs. The only reference I have for what that is is Delvin Mallory in Skyrim.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
There are no other airbenders besides Tenzin's family, official word from the creators.
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
Piandao (world's finest swordsman) has both Pakku (world's best waterbender) and Jeong-Jeong (world reknowned fire bender) backing him up when he fought those super charged firebending grunts. Not exactly the best example I would say. More importantly, fighting is not the world. Being able to chi block like a champ won't get you the job a the lightning factory. Kicking someone's ass won't let you heal as quickly, and safely as a waterbender. Oppression is not simply getting your ass handed to you. It can be as simple as worse job prospects.
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
Well they have mentioned it outside of the show that the monks on the island aren't airbenders so it is official. You can complain that that is bad storytelling if you want.
My quill is already in hand, good sir.
"Dear ignorant twa..." I better take this offline!
Its ok. Meelo will probably become a polygamist and have like 200 kids to restore the population since Aang and Tenzin have failed in their duty.
Tenzin hasn't failed
he's got three kids and one on the way with a fairly young wife, ALL OF WHOM are airbenders
if anything Tenzin's got some real potent airbending mojo
It's having an integral part of their life removed. The 2 instances we've seen of it, the guy tries to bend after and flops and falls down, like he has no equilibrium anymore - cause a part of him is missing. It's just as bad as taking a limb / eye / whatever, imo.
That's because he expect to shoot out a giant explosion. Imagine trying to fire an oversized hand cannon only to get zero recoil.
Yeah, I'm not too familiar with the show, but I'm going to wager that losing a arm or a leg is not equivalent to losing the ability to bend.
Especially given that Korra, the avatar and all, was alarmed upon losing her bending power. As oppose to totally losing her shit, like she (or anyone) would if their arm had suddenly be removed from its socket. I'm assuming she had no way of knowing it was temporary until she was told.
I don't think we'd be having this discussion if Amon had broken the guy's kneecaps or gouged out his eyes
Because that would actually be crippling them. As many people have been so eager to point out, while they can no longer bend people who can't bend are clearly in no way at a disadvantage to those who can.
Tell that to people like Toph who are so reliant on their ability to bend that they cannot function without it. Take away earthbending and then she's a blind girl who literally had her sight taken away, no different from gouging out Sokkas eyes.
And you can pretty easily extend this argument to fun things like say the use of legs. There was that kid in the wheelchair in series 1, so should we start breaking everyone's kneecaps?
Bending is something these people are born with and put an extremely large portion of their life aside to master. taking it away does put them at a disadvantage because they've literally been relying on and training an ability that's just suddenly gone.
Oh I'm sorry all non benders are now blind little girls without bending?
Look, the person I was arguing claimed benders and nonbenders are on equal footing. That is the assumption I am arguing against. If you don't believe then I don't really care. But if you do you can't also equate losing bending to being crippled. Lightning Bolt Jolt is not now a cripple. He's the same as anyone else without bending.
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
Mako said they did numbers jobs. The only reference I have for what that is is Delvin Mallory in Skyrim.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
There are no other airbenders besides Tenzin's family, official word from the creators.
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
Piandao (world's finest swordsman) has both Pakku (world's best waterbender) and Jeong-Jeong (world reknowned fire bender) backing him up when he fought those super charged firebending grunts. Not exactly the best example I would say. More importantly, fighting is not the world. Being able to chi block like a champ won't get you the job a the lightning factory. Kicking someone's ass won't let you heal as quickly, and safely as a waterbender. Oppression is not simply getting your ass handed to you. It can be as simple as worse job prospects.
He fought some solo too though. I am not denying that being a bender is an advantage, or that there are some jobs that they can get that others can't. I disagree with the idea that being a bender automatically means you are set for life, that there aren't poor benders, and that benders effectively run society. Remember besides being a water bending doctor all of the bender specific jobs are essentially skilled trades. Don't get me wrong, those are nice jobs but you don't get rich doing them unless you move into management.
Edit: Just think how many kids Sokka could have had with his 4 wives though, he could have made some real progress at solving this airbender shortage.
Yes let's look at the nefarious things Amon has done.
Stolen bending from criminals. EVILLLLL!
He should do better things for society like Korra did when she tore apart a city block.
Wow, did I really just read this? I mean... did you mean to type what you did or was that entire middle sentence some bizarre smartphone keyboard mishap?
Amon's actions was the equivalent of crippling someone as punishment dealt entirely outside the law. Being born with a talent is not a crime and committing a crime does not justify rounding up your friends and removing the source of that person's talent, whether that be bending or mathematics.
So non benders aren't at a disadvantage to benders but to take away someone's bending is equal to crippling them.
And Korra's actions are no less vigilante as Bei Fang was happy to point out. And hers were far more dangerous.
Oh come on, Korra was literally fresh off the boat
I know that. And I know that she's not a cruel or has bad intentions. But do you think the people she endangered knew? Or even cared? Good intentions doesn't pay for a destroyed shop. While it's not how I personally feel because of my knowledge of the cartoon, I wholly understand the feelings of the people supporting the Equalists.
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
Mako said they did numbers jobs. The only reference I have for what that is is Delvin Mallory in Skyrim.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
There are no other airbenders besides Tenzin's family, official word from the creators.
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
Piandao (world's finest swordsman) has both Pakku (world's best waterbender) and Jeong-Jeong (world reknowned fire bender) backing him up when he fought those super charged firebending grunts. Not exactly the best example I would say. More importantly, fighting is not the world. Being able to chi block like a champ won't get you the job a the lightning factory. Kicking someone's ass won't let you heal as quickly, and safely as a waterbender. Oppression is not simply getting your ass handed to you. It can be as simple as worse job prospects.
He fought some solo too though. I am not denying that being a bender is an advantage, or that there are some jobs that they can get that others can't. I disagree with the idea that being a bender automatically means you are set for life, that there aren't poor benders, and that benders effectively run society. Remember besides being a water bending doctor all of the bender specific jobs are essentially skilled trades. Don't get me wrong, those are nice jobs but you don't get rich doing them unless you move into management.
Edit: Just think how many kids Sokka could have had with his 4 wives though, he could have made some real progress at solving this airbender shortage.
Water bending doctors would become very popular (and expensive given the right demand for their services) for healing wounds quicker, easier and with less or no side effects in contrast to non-bending doctors. Any sport requiring bending automatically disqualifies non-benders (Pro-bending), bender based gangs will destroy any non-bender gangs with little effort, depending on how bender dominant the police force is unless you're a bender* you're likely not qualified (especially with the Metalbending SWAT division), construction work may be monopolized by earthbenders.
* which is a distinct possibly considering that there are bender gangs round around
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
Mako said they did numbers jobs. The only reference I have for what that is is Delvin Mallory in Skyrim.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
There are no other airbenders besides Tenzin's family, official word from the creators.
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
Piandao (world's finest swordsman) has both Pakku (world's best waterbender) and Jeong-Jeong (world reknowned fire bender) backing him up when he fought those super charged firebending grunts. Not exactly the best example I would say. More importantly, fighting is not the world. Being able to chi block like a champ won't get you the job a the lightning factory. Kicking someone's ass won't let you heal as quickly, and safely as a waterbender. Oppression is not simply getting your ass handed to you. It can be as simple as worse job prospects.
He fought some solo too though. I am not denying that being a bender is an advantage, or that there are some jobs that they can get that others can't. I disagree with the idea that being a bender automatically means you are set for life, that there aren't poor benders, and that benders effectively run society. Remember besides being a water bending doctor all of the bender specific jobs are essentially skilled trades. Don't get me wrong, those are nice jobs but you don't get rich doing them unless you move into management.
Edit: Just think how many kids Sokka could have had with his 4 wives though, he could have made some real progress at solving this airbender shortage.
Only 4? C'mon, this is Sokka we're talking about here.
The_Tuninator on
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
I am not denying that being a bender is an advantage, or that there are some jobs that they can get that others can't. I disagree with the idea that being a bender automatically means you are set for life, that there aren't poor benders, and that benders effectively run society. Remember besides being a water bending doctor all of the bender specific jobs are essentially skilled trades.
Yes, except they're skilled trades no one except benders can even compete for. You do realize how much money people who get their certificates in skilled trades can make, right?
I mean, if I really wanted to, I could probably borrow some money from my parents or take out a bank loan, get an apprenticeship, and if I put in the work and time I could eventually be making six figures a year, which would be a marked improvement over my current situation. There are several paths to being comfortably well-off in the modern world, and while there are certain advantages you have from being, for example, well-fed in your childhood, or coming from a place where the schools aren't shit, you can at least in theory get there with enough work. In the world of Korra, there are some jobs that no matter your work ethic or intelligence or education, you will never, ever be able to get even if every bender on the planet died, unless you're a bender yourself.
We're not arguing that being a bender makes you set for life, or that there aren't poor benders. I really hate to bring real-world politics in, but your words are pretty much verbatim what privilege-deniers always say, and I think the show is trying to make a point something like this--that just because there's such things as poor white people doesn't mean that being white isn't an advantage in the industrialized English-speaking western world. Now add actual fucking I-was-born-this-way superpowers in place of racial tensions, and what do you get but social injustice and a mountain of privilege that can't ever be climbed without something drastic being done?
And consider: the only two people of authority in Republic City we've met so far are Tenzin, who has an entire island set aside for his tiny, tiny subculture, and the chief of police, who's a metalbender. I'll bet you, without even having seen any preview clips of anything that happens after episode 3 aside from the original series trailer, that there's a token non-bender or two on whatever the equivalent of the city council is, but that they're greatly outnumbered by the benders on the council--even if bending isn't relevant to the job they do--and that they're in the positions of least authority.
Also you don't need to be rich for people to be dissatisfied. Just have readily accessible decent paying work while they fight over the best bushes in the park.
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Mako and Bolin make so little sense. "When we were kids, our family was killed by a fire bender extortionist. So sometimes for money, we work for a fire bender extortionist."
I think you're getting Amon's story mixed up with Mako and Bolin.
Amon had the extortionist; Mako's mother and father were killed by a mugger.
Mako said they did numbers jobs. The only reference I have for what that is is Delvin Mallory in Skyrim.
Well we're both working off the same evidence and came to opposite conclusions. From my perspective there's no evidence that there aren't other airbenders left in society. We're not even sure if people require bending ancestors to be born with the ability to bend. We do know that Aang was the last airbender but it was never conclusively stated whether that was due to natural ability or being taught. For all we know there are plenty of benders living their lives as non-benders simple because their personality is opposite to that of the bending ability they were born with and without a teacher to bring it out they will never know they have an ability.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
There are no other airbenders besides Tenzin's family, official word from the creators.
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
Piandao (world's finest swordsman) has both Pakku (world's best waterbender) and Jeong-Jeong (world reknowned fire bender) backing him up when he fought those super charged firebending grunts. Not exactly the best example I would say. More importantly, fighting is not the world. Being able to chi block like a champ won't get you the job a the lightning factory. Kicking someone's ass won't let you heal as quickly, and safely as a waterbender. Oppression is not simply getting your ass handed to you. It can be as simple as worse job prospects.
He fought some solo too though. I am not denying that being a bender is an advantage, or that there are some jobs that they can get that others can't. I disagree with the idea that being a bender automatically means you are set for life, that there aren't poor benders, and that benders effectively run society. Remember besides being a water bending doctor all of the bender specific jobs are essentially skilled trades. Don't get me wrong, those are nice jobs but you don't get rich doing them unless you move into management.
Edit: Just think how many kids Sokka could have had with his 4 wives though, he could have made some real progress at solving this airbender shortage.
Water bending doctors would become very popular (and expensive given the right demand for their services) for healing wounds quicker, easier and with less or no side effects in contrast to non-bending doctors. Any sport requiring bending automatically disqualifies non-benders (Pro-bending), bender based gangs will destroy any non-bender gangs with little effort, depending on how bender dominant the police force is unless you're a bender* you're likely not qualified (especially with the Metalbending SWAT division), construction work may be monopolized by earthbenders.
* which is a distinct possibly considering that there are bender gangs round around
The doctor thing not necessarily. It depends on how much training it is. If you can learn to be a water bender doctor faster then you can learn to be a doctor in the real world then medical care might actually be a whole lot cheaper then in the real world just from supply and demand. As far as gangs, swat, and construction work I'll give you those but once again none of those are things that really get you rich off of unless you move into management.
And consider: the only two people of authority in Republic City we've met so far are Tenzin, who has an entire island set aside for his tiny, tiny subculture, and the chief of police, who's a metalbender. I'll bet you, without even having seen any preview clips of anything that happens after episode 3 aside from the original series trailer, that there's a token non-bender or two on whatever the equivalent of the city council is, but that they're greatly outnumbered by the benders on the council--even if bending isn't relevant to the job they do--and that they're in the positions of least authority.
Regarding the city council:
We know for a fact that 3 of the 5 councilmembers-i.e., a majority-are benders, and it's quite plausible that the final two are as well.
Additionally, the council isn't even an elective government, nor does it come from within Republic City. The council is comprised of one representative from each Nation, including the two separate Water Tribes as two distinct entities.
Republic City does not possess an elective government; it's no wonder people are angry.
Regardless of the competition issue, bender powers are incredibly valuable for the species to have. The Avatar universe has to have some insane cost efficiency and environmental benefits from people being able to do so much by pointing and thinking hard.
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
And consider: the only two people of authority in Republic City we've met so far are Tenzin, who has an entire island set aside for his tiny, tiny subculture, and the chief of police, who's a metalbender. I'll bet you, without even having seen any preview clips of anything that happens after episode 3 aside from the original series trailer, that there's a token non-bender or two on whatever the equivalent of the city council is, but that they're greatly outnumbered by the benders on the council--even if bending isn't relevant to the job they do--and that they're in the positions of least authority.
Regarding the city council:
We know for a fact that 3 of the 5 councilmembers-i.e., a majority-are benders, and it's quite plausible that the final two are as well.
Additionally, the council isn't even an elective government, nor does it come from within Republic City. The council is comprised of one representative from each Nation, including the two separate Water Tribes as two distinct entities.
Republic City does not possess an elective government; it's no wonder people are angry.
It vaguely amuses me that
(this is not a spoiler)
the Republic Council is based on the UN and ends up with the same number of representatives as Babylon 5's version.
Vorlon, Minbari, Narn, Centauri, and Human. With the League of Non-Aligned Worlds getting a collective vote.
Vorlon and Minbari are the water tribes, north and south respectively; Narn is Earth Kingdom; Centauri is Fire Nation, and Human are Air Nomads.
Or the Vorlon are the Air Nomads and Minbari / Human are north and south. Haven't really decided.
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Just to be clear here, you're contending Jolt is now the equivalent of a handless blind person?
Forget now, there should have been more airbenders in the hundred years that Aang was in the ice if it was just a thing that anyone could be born with.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
Well they have mentioned it outside of the show that the monks on the island aren't airbenders so it is official. You can complain that that is bad storytelling if you want.
My quill is already in hand, good sir.
"Dear ignorant twa..." I better take this offline!
Its ok. Meelo will probably become a polygamist and have like 200 kids to restore the population since Aang and Tenzin have failed in their duty.
Meelo has some kind of physical and developmental disability, I'm certain of it
nobody comes out looking like that unless something went wrong in the oven
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Complete nonsequitr on those punishments. Politics of marijuana aside and speeding (outside of a school zone) being a misdemeanor unless you took a rocket car on the freeway, the gangs have been using their abilities as benders to beat up on people--primarily, I would guess, non-benders (criminals being a superstitious and cowardly lot)--and taking their money. When you arrest someone for armed robbery, you take the gun away.
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Just to be clear here, you're contending Jolt is now the equivalent of a handless blind person?
I'm contending that Amon is one criminal mutilating another according to his own idea of morality which has no correlation to the rest of society, simply because he can and wants to. Calling someone a criminal doesn't mean you can then automatically punish them however you want. Laws are not all equal and neither are crimes. We don't have a single punishment anywhere near as horrific as what Amon did to those men, regardless of the crime, short of capital punishment which is a can of worms for another thread.
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Just to be clear here, you're contending Jolt is now the equivalent of a handless blind person?
I'm contending that Amon is one criminal mutilating another according to his own idea of morality which has no correlation to the rest of society, simply because he can and wants to. Calling someone a criminal doesn't mean you can then automatically punish them however you want. Laws are not all equal and neither are crimes. We don't have a single punishment anywhere near as horrific as what Amon did to those men, regardless of the crime, short of capital punishment which is a can of worms for another thread.
Without any real evidence as to how the loss of bending affects a person, we really can't be making these kind of claims.
It could psychologically devastate them for the rest of their lives, or it could simply be something they learn to live with without too much trouble.
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Just to be clear here, you're contending Jolt is now the equivalent of a handless blind person?
I'm contending that Amon is one criminal mutilating another according to his own idea of morality which has no correlation to the rest of society, simply because he can and wants to. Calling someone a criminal doesn't mean you can then automatically punish them however you want. Laws are not all equal and neither are crimes. We don't have a single punishment anywhere near as horrific as what Amon did to those men, regardless of the crime, short of capital punishment which is a can of worms for another thread.
Without any real evidence as to how the loss of bending affects a person, we really can't be making these kind of claims.
It could psychologically devastate them for the rest of their lives, or it could simply be something they learn to live with without too much trouble.
And Amon has the authority to do this because why? Why does Amon get to decide on the punishment?
Look, any given bender cannot defeat any given non-bender.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Just to be clear here, you're contending Jolt is now the equivalent of a handless blind person?
I'm contending that Amon is one criminal mutilating another according to his own idea of morality which has no correlation to the rest of society, simply because he can and wants to. Calling someone a criminal doesn't mean you can then automatically punish them however you want. Laws are not all equal and neither are crimes. We don't have a single punishment anywhere near as horrific as what Amon did to those men, regardless of the crime, short of capital punishment which is a can of worms for another thread.
Without any real evidence as to how the loss of bending affects a person, we really can't be making these kind of claims.
It could psychologically devastate them for the rest of their lives, or it could simply be something they learn to live with without too much trouble.
Wait, really? Its not immediately obvious that one person stripping another of any portion whatsoever of their mental capacity is wrong and extreme?
You'd support someone's right to remove your ability to do something simply because they wanted to?
Posts
That's because he expect to shoot out a giant explosion. Imagine trying to fire an oversized hand cannon only to get zero recoil.
Aang was the last airbender, and the only extant airbenders whose existence is confirmed are Tenzin and his offspring. I believe Word of God is that the type of bender you are is determined by your parentage, but I don't have a citation on that.
Still, though, logic dictates that if the Fire Nation thought they could eradicate airbending by killing all the Air Nomads, then the ability to airbend (but not the potential to bend itself) is determinate on whether one of your parents is an airbender.
Aang's son is not saying that Amon spiritbended, as he doesn't have complete information regarding the situation. Aang's son is just saying that the only individual who has ever possessed the ability to remove someone's bending is the Avatar.
Remember, Tenzin wasn't there; he's just reacting to what Korra told him.
The fancy flash isn't the only thing we're missing. Amon didn't touch his victim's chest, as Aang did with Ozai. Add everything up, and it smells a little fishy.
So you think the fight would have gone differently if Toph hadn't waited until her hands were on the ground? Let's spin that scenario out. Ty Lee is now in a fight where she can't move her feet, and her opponent can chuck rocks at her from a mile out. Yeah, I totally think it would have ended differently. Element of surprise cuts both ways as well. Chi blockers that we have seen fight have been either against those trained for sports, or caught completely by surprise. The one exception is I think some of Ty Lee's later fights against Katara. Mind you, Katara had less than a years training in waterbending. She had probably 6-7 months of training and practice afterwards by the end of Avatar. In that time she mastered the ability to control peoples bodies against their will. Not exactly points for the non-bending portions here. Also, Bumi might not have done the rock armor, but he never really needed to either. Toph also taught bending for probably a long time after Avatar ended. She might have passed on that nifty technique.
Mai won which fights exactly? I am curious for the list here. Which ones don't end in her getting chased off. Admittedly the only bender type that couldn't completely shut her down was fire, and she was on their side. That becomes kind of the point though. Even knives thrown with deadly accuracy can't hold off most benders. Hell even the archer guys, who were the super elite snipers who trained for ages, only once proved to be very effective against Team Avatar which was exclusively children who were mostly self taught for the majority of the series.
Yes, there are more non-benders than benders, but you only need so many employees to get work done. Do you hire the guy who needs a torch, and propane in order to weld the satomobiles together, or the guy who provides that free of cost as a part of simply working there? Healing with waterbending is supposedly a rare-trait, but look how quick and side effect free it works. It saved a guy who had been struck by super charged lightning and at least partially botched redirecting it. As for being taught only to female waterbenders that is just kind a crap deflection. We have seen a massive proliferation in metal and lighting bending. Healing is going to be way, way more in demand than both of those combined. I think it is safe to say it is taught to whomever has the gift by a lot more people. Especially since Katara, and Aang loathed gender typing for waterbending and became the saviors of the entire damned world.
Amon would have lost a lot of *ahem* face had he gone to such lengths to make his ability public and then had his victims strutting around bending again the following week/month/year. If chi attacks were capable of removing bending then we would have seen one of the girls do it in the previous show. Its too much of a stretch to assume anything other than Amon is a spirit bender, in my opinion.
Oh come on, Korra was literally fresh off the boat
Also Gnizmo people have pointed out a whole bunch of examples of nonbenders beating benders, including ones who were high on comets. This isn't the real world, nonbenders can do impossible things too.
The Earth King was a figurehead, Long Feng ran that place while he was out catching bears.
We've seen nobody airbending so far except for Tenzin and his family, and Tenzin himself is specifically cited as the only Airbending master in existence.
If Airbending could be taught to just anyone, shouldn't there be way more airbenders by now? We should see more airbenders at Korra's lessons than just Tenzin's kids, as Tenzin is the only teacher. We should see more airbenders flying around the island.
Chi attacks, like everything else, have been developed and disseminated over the past hundred years. Lightning used to be the province of incredibly powerful firebending geniuses, now it's used in industrial work. Toph used to be the sole proprietor of metalbending, now it's a relatively widespread skill. Ty Lee used to be the only chi-blocker, now it's the primary technique of the Equalist movement.
Given how everything else has evolved over the ~70 years in between A:TLA and Korra, I find it kind of silly to assert that it's a stretch to assume that Amon developed new chi techniques, but that it's not a stretch that Aang or the Lion Turtle taught someone else Energybending for some unfathomable reason.
That's not to rule out the possibility of Energybending, of course; he certainly could be doing it. I just don't think that we should unequivocally assume that the only possible means of removing bending which he could possibly have is Energybending, given the circumstances.
They could have wiped out tons of benders by now but instead all we get is one man demonstrating something that looks an awful lot like the thing we've already seen remove abilities in front of as large of a crowd as he could gather without getting arrested.
But there weren't. Because Aang was the last airbender. Because the rest are deaaaaaaaad.
Yes yes, the writers from on high already apparently dictated this without bothering to mention it anywhere in the pilot for some silly reason.
My quill is already in hand, good sir.
"Dear ignorant twa..." I better take this offline!
Piandao (world's finest swordsman) has both Pakku (world's best waterbender) and Jeong-Jeong (world reknowned fire bender) backing him up when he fought those super charged firebending grunts. Not exactly the best example I would say. More importantly, fighting is not the world. Being able to chi block like a champ won't get you the job a the lightning factory. Kicking someone's ass won't let you heal as quickly, and safely as a waterbender. Oppression is not simply getting your ass handed to you. It can be as simple as worse job prospects.
Tenzin hasn't failed
he's got three kids and one on the way with a fairly young wife, ALL OF WHOM are airbenders
if anything Tenzin's got some real potent airbending mojo
Yeah, I'm not too familiar with the show, but I'm going to wager that losing a arm or a leg is not equivalent to losing the ability to bend.
Especially given that Korra, the avatar and all, was alarmed upon losing her bending power. As oppose to totally losing her shit, like she (or anyone) would if their arm had suddenly be removed from its socket. I'm assuming she had no way of knowing it was temporary until she was told.
It's pretty bad, yes, but it's not equivalent.
Oh I'm sorry all non benders are now blind little girls without bending?
Look, the person I was arguing claimed benders and nonbenders are on equal footing. That is the assumption I am arguing against. If you don't believe then I don't really care. But if you do you can't also equate losing bending to being crippled. Lightning Bolt Jolt is not now a cripple. He's the same as anyone else without bending.
Edit: Just think how many kids Sokka could have had with his 4 wives though, he could have made some real progress at solving this airbender shortage.
I know that. And I know that she's not a cruel or has bad intentions. But do you think the people she endangered knew? Or even cared? Good intentions doesn't pay for a destroyed shop. While it's not how I personally feel because of my knowledge of the cartoon, I wholly understand the feelings of the people supporting the Equalists.
Water bending doctors would become very popular (and expensive given the right demand for their services) for healing wounds quicker, easier and with less or no side effects in contrast to non-bending doctors. Any sport requiring bending automatically disqualifies non-benders (Pro-bending), bender based gangs will destroy any non-bender gangs with little effort, depending on how bender dominant the police force is unless you're a bender* you're likely not qualified (especially with the Metalbending SWAT division), construction work may be monopolized by earthbenders.
* which is a distinct possibly considering that there are bender gangs round around
Only 4? C'mon, this is Sokka we're talking about here.
Yes, except they're skilled trades no one except benders can even compete for. You do realize how much money people who get their certificates in skilled trades can make, right?
I mean, if I really wanted to, I could probably borrow some money from my parents or take out a bank loan, get an apprenticeship, and if I put in the work and time I could eventually be making six figures a year, which would be a marked improvement over my current situation. There are several paths to being comfortably well-off in the modern world, and while there are certain advantages you have from being, for example, well-fed in your childhood, or coming from a place where the schools aren't shit, you can at least in theory get there with enough work. In the world of Korra, there are some jobs that no matter your work ethic or intelligence or education, you will never, ever be able to get even if every bender on the planet died, unless you're a bender yourself.
We're not arguing that being a bender makes you set for life, or that there aren't poor benders. I really hate to bring real-world politics in, but your words are pretty much verbatim what privilege-deniers always say, and I think the show is trying to make a point something like this--that just because there's such things as poor white people doesn't mean that being white isn't an advantage in the industrialized English-speaking western world. Now add actual fucking I-was-born-this-way superpowers in place of racial tensions, and what do you get but social injustice and a mountain of privilege that can't ever be climbed without something drastic being done?
And consider: the only two people of authority in Republic City we've met so far are Tenzin, who has an entire island set aside for his tiny, tiny subculture, and the chief of police, who's a metalbender. I'll bet you, without even having seen any preview clips of anything that happens after episode 3 aside from the original series trailer, that there's a token non-bender or two on whatever the equivalent of the city council is, but that they're greatly outnumbered by the benders on the council--even if bending isn't relevant to the job they do--and that they're in the positions of least authority.
But the benders have access to what is effectively magic. That gives them an advantage. Amon is somewhat right but is too extreme in his methods and rhetoric. That's what makes him an interesting villain (also: he has a cool mask!).
Can we please stop the power level arguments?
Regarding the city council:
Additionally, the council isn't even an elective government, nor does it come from within Republic City. The council is comprised of one representative from each Nation, including the two separate Water Tribes as two distinct entities.
Republic City does not possess an elective government; it's no wonder people are angry.
Indeed. That he wants to rid the world of bending I wouldn't support. But him taking it away from criminals? Cry me a river. Guy's Batman who actually stops villains without killing them.
It vaguely amuses me that
the Republic Council is based on the UN and ends up with the same number of representatives as Babylon 5's version.
Vorlon, Minbari, Narn, Centauri, and Human. With the League of Non-Aligned Worlds getting a collective vote.
Vorlon and Minbari are the water tribes, north and south respectively; Narn is Earth Kingdom; Centauri is Fire Nation, and Human are Air Nomads.
Or the Vorlon are the Air Nomads and Minbari / Human are north and south. Haven't really decided.
His actions to date are anything but reprehensible, however.
Punishment doesn't fit the crime. Should we cut off your hands for smoking weed? Maybe gouge out your eyes for speeding? Screw the police, let's all get together and decide whatever punishment feels appropriate to our particular mob mentality and put our weapons to work, eh?
Just to be clear here, you're contending Jolt is now the equivalent of a handless blind person?
Meelo has some kind of physical and developmental disability, I'm certain of it
nobody comes out looking like that unless something went wrong in the oven
Complete nonsequitr on those punishments. Politics of marijuana aside and speeding (outside of a school zone) being a misdemeanor unless you took a rocket car on the freeway, the gangs have been using their abilities as benders to beat up on people--primarily, I would guess, non-benders (criminals being a superstitious and cowardly lot)--and taking their money. When you arrest someone for armed robbery, you take the gun away.
I'm contending that Amon is one criminal mutilating another according to his own idea of morality which has no correlation to the rest of society, simply because he can and wants to. Calling someone a criminal doesn't mean you can then automatically punish them however you want. Laws are not all equal and neither are crimes. We don't have a single punishment anywhere near as horrific as what Amon did to those men, regardless of the crime, short of capital punishment which is a can of worms for another thread.
Without any real evidence as to how the loss of bending affects a person, we really can't be making these kind of claims.
It could psychologically devastate them for the rest of their lives, or it could simply be something they learn to live with without too much trouble.
And Amon has the authority to do this because why? Why does Amon get to decide on the punishment?
Wait, really? Its not immediately obvious that one person stripping another of any portion whatsoever of their mental capacity is wrong and extreme?
You'd support someone's right to remove your ability to do something simply because they wanted to?